The present invention relates to hand held apparatus for removing accumulations of frozen material, and more particularly, to the removal of frost from windows or the like.
Hand held devices for the removal of ice from the windshield and other windows of automobiles and other vehicles are commonly sold in retail stores and automobile service stations. Such scrapers typically have a handle portion that is adapted to be grasped in one hand, and extend in a direction generally parallel to the user's arm and perpendicularly or transversely to the surface to be scraped. A rigid blade portion extends from the handle portion and includes an integrally formed or separately attached edge for contacting and scraping the ice. Such scrapers are designed for the removal of ice, but are also used for the removal of frost.
The rugged construction and need for concentrating the user's applied force to the task of removing ice, dictates that the contact edge of the blade portion have a width on the order of only a few inches. Similarly, the blade and in particular the edge, are rigid so as to withstand the high applied forces, which sometimes include very highly concentrated impacted forces when the scraper is used as chisel.
In many parts of the country, weather patterns during several months of the year before and after winter, produce frost conditions that require scraping. The ice scrapers of the type described above, are not well suited for this purpose. The rigid blade does not conform closely to the subtle curvature of most windows, and the edge of such scrapers typically has nicks or other irregularities. These characteristics are of little adverse consequence with respect to the removal of ice, but result in excessive effort and frustration with respect to the removal of frost. The narrow edge requires many strokes by the user to clean all the windows, even though little force may be required. The rigidity and irregularities of the edge result in leaving streaks of unremoved frost behind the path of the blade as it is stroked.